f.lux and sleep aid follow-up: About a month or two ago, I posted on the open thread about some things I was experimenting with to get to bed regularly at a decent hour. Here are the results:
f.lux: I installed f.lux on my computer. This is a program that through the course of the day, changes your display from blue light to red light, on the theory that the blue light from your computer keeps you awake. When I first installed it, the red tint to my screen was VERY noticeable. Anecdotally, I ended up feeling EXTREMELY tired right after installing it, and fell asleep within about half hour, despite the fact that it was only 8:30p.
Now, the red tint to my screen at night is barely noticeable, which is good, but it doesn’t make me feel super-tired like it did the first night I installed it. I didn’t keep any quantitative measurements of my sleep patterns, so I can’t tell if f.lux has helped or not, but I think its possible effects may be negated by the extremely bright lights I have in my room. I definitely feel more tired when I turn those off, which I don’t normally do. (But I should...)
Verdict: I would recommend installing f.lux if you are having trouble getting yourself to bed on time, especially if you do a lot of computer usage at night. The results are iffy, but the cost is minimal (maybe 2 minutes of your time to download, and then it’s on your computer and you never have to worry about it again.)
Sleep Aid: I also tried taking a sleep aid (Diphenhydramine HCl- it’s non-addictive and OTC) about half an hour before I thought I should start going to bed. This worked great! It is much easier to think “I should go to bed soon-ish. I’ll take a sleep aid now,” than to think “I should stop everything I’m doing and get ready for bed NOW.” Once you’ve taken the pill, you’re pretty much committed to going to bed soon, plus it makes you nice and tired.
Unfortunately, I also ended up starting to have really bad headaches within a couple of days, so I stopped using them. When I used the pill at night, I would have a headache the next day. If I didn’t use the pill, I wouldn’t have a headache. I intend to try this again at some point with melatonin. I might also try again with the same pills, just to make sure that the first trial didn’t just happen to coincide with me being sick.
Verdict: It’s definitely effective, so give it a try, but recognize that they might cause headaches.
f.lux and sleep aid follow-up: About a month or two ago, I posted on the open thread about some things I was experimenting with to get to bed regularly at a decent hour. Here are the results:
f.lux: I installed f.lux on my computer. This is a program that through the course of the day, changes your display from blue light to red light, on the theory that the blue light from your computer keeps you awake. When I first installed it, the red tint to my screen was VERY noticeable. Anecdotally, I ended up feeling EXTREMELY tired right after installing it, and fell asleep within about half hour, despite the fact that it was only 8:30p.
Now, the red tint to my screen at night is barely noticeable, which is good, but it doesn’t make me feel super-tired like it did the first night I installed it. I didn’t keep any quantitative measurements of my sleep patterns, so I can’t tell if f.lux has helped or not, but I think its possible effects may be negated by the extremely bright lights I have in my room. I definitely feel more tired when I turn those off, which I don’t normally do. (But I should...)
Verdict: I would recommend installing f.lux if you are having trouble getting yourself to bed on time, especially if you do a lot of computer usage at night. The results are iffy, but the cost is minimal (maybe 2 minutes of your time to download, and then it’s on your computer and you never have to worry about it again.)
Sleep Aid: I also tried taking a sleep aid (Diphenhydramine HCl- it’s non-addictive and OTC) about half an hour before I thought I should start going to bed. This worked great! It is much easier to think “I should go to bed soon-ish. I’ll take a sleep aid now,” than to think “I should stop everything I’m doing and get ready for bed NOW.” Once you’ve taken the pill, you’re pretty much committed to going to bed soon, plus it makes you nice and tired.
Unfortunately, I also ended up starting to have really bad headaches within a couple of days, so I stopped using them. When I used the pill at night, I would have a headache the next day. If I didn’t use the pill, I wouldn’t have a headache. I intend to try this again at some point with melatonin. I might also try again with the same pills, just to make sure that the first trial didn’t just happen to coincide with me being sick.
Verdict: It’s definitely effective, so give it a try, but recognize that they might cause headaches.